The Magic Show
by 8cakes
Summary: "My parents seemed so happy, and Miriam was actually sober for once. Phoebe would have a better best friend than I ever was to her in our whole lives, and no one would miss me if I left... Wait, it all makes sense now! The world WOULD be a better place if I didn't exist, wouldn't it?" **ON HIATUS**
1. The Magic Show

**Takes place during the "Magic Show" episode.**

"Make Helga disappear!" One kid shouted from the crowd.

"Make Helga disappear! Make Helga disappear! Make Helga disappear!" Everyone started to chant.

"Alright, you bunch of clods! I'll do it! I'll go in the stupid box!" Helga marched up the stairs, onto the stage, and into the large box. She stood in the box with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face.

"You don't have to do anything, just stand right here." Arnold informed her with a smile.

"Hmph! Arnold- _eenie_! You couldn't make an _ANT_ disappear!"

"Helga, for once in your life, would you just go along with this?" Arnold asked her, getting annoyed at her comments. Without another word, Sid closed the box door. Arnold made up a gibberish spell name and a banner that looked liked the back of the box was pulled down in front of Helga. She heard the box door open again, and the kids' in the audience gasps in awe. Then applause and cheers.

"Oh, come on! What a cheap trick!" Helga said out loud to no one in particular.

"Man, Arnold! I wish we could _REALLY_ make Helga disappear." Helga overheard Gerald say.

"Ohhh, that's funny! That's _VERY_ funny! I'll show that Arnold- _weenie_ a little trick of my own." Helga pushed the back door of the box open, and started to walk away.

"Dastardly do right, burns and rubble, send Helga Pataki back on the double!" The door opened up to reveal nothing. "Um...there seems to be a technical problem here." Arnold said to the audience with a nervous smile.

Helga giggled as she started running. "Once everyone finds out I'm gone, they'll be so, so sad! Boo hoo! And then search parties will be formed on every continent! Crowds of strangers will comfort each other, weeping openly like babies!" She made an evil laugh. "What a bunch of geeks..." She muttered with a smirk. "I really fooled them. They'll all miss me, they'll all- **OOF**!"

 **(I'm gonna skip the dream to get to the good stuff! Also, pretend that Helga already got Bob a present so she doesn't have to run around places, haha)**

" ** _NO_**!" Helga jerked up, finding out that she was on the sidewalk, looking up at a ' **No Running** ' sign. "It was all a dream...but it seemed so real!" She thought, then it hit her. "My parents seemed so happy, and Miriam was actually sober for once. Phoebe would have a better best friend than I ever was to her in our whole lives, and no one would miss me if I left... Wait, it all makes sense now! The world _would_ be a better place if I didn't exist, wouldn't it?"

 **The Magic Show - I do not own Hey Arnold. Hey Arnold belongs to Craig Bartlett and Nickelodeon...yay.**

Helga got up from her spot on the ground, and started to walk back to the stage. She couldn't help but zone out on her way there. _"No one missed me because I was so mean and cruel to everyone.. I have to go back and apologize."_

"All magicians know that it takes..uh..48 attempts to bring someone back. So finally, here she is, Helga!" The box opened to reveal Helga, and the crowd started to cheer.

 _"The time is now, Helga,"_ she thought to herself, and she began her most important apology she would ever make, "I just wanted to tell everyone that I'm so sorry for-"

" **INTERMISSION** **! FREE YAHOO SODAS OVER HERE!** " Sid shouted, which caused the crowd to cheer even louder, running to the coolers for sodas.

Helga just watched as all the kids immediately dismiss her 'almost' apology to go get sodas. _"Typical. It was stupid of me to think they would even listen."_

She looked over at Arnold, and she knew what she had to do.

"Arnold, I'm sorry for making fun of your magic show, and the shape of your head," Arnold was least interested in her presence, and more interested in his rubber pencil, "and I just wanted to say that-"

"You already ruined my last trick!" Arnold interrupted, looking extremely ticked off.

Even though Helga understood he had every right to be angry, him looking at her like that still hurt her a thousand times worse than she had expected.

"But..but I was gonna say that I.." She suddenly couldn't form her words into sentences. At this moment, she remembered what Gerald had said to Arnold earlier, about wishing that he could actually make her disappear, and the dream she had.. Both of these things were not helping her confidence in this situation.

"What? I'm listening," Arnold said more calmly, but still annoyed.

"Well..I..I.." She felt a sudden lump in her throat, _"no. Don't you dare cry."_

Arnold began to notice a huge frown forming on Helga's face as she tried to hide it by biting her lip. His ticked off expression and attitude vanished and was replaced with concern, "Are you okay, Helga?"

Her vision began to get blurry, "I.."

 _"Leave. Go. Now. Hurry! You can't do this!"_

Helga quickly turned her head away from him and darted off, "Never mind," was the only thing she said while heading off the stage and towards an exit.

Arnold's eyes widened as he watched her run away. This was the first time he _ever_ saw Helga Pataki cry...

 **(Updated version made on 10/21/17)**


	2. The Family Atrocity

**The Magic Show - I do not own Hey Arnold. Hey Arnold belongs to Craig Bartlett and Nickelodeon...yay**

 **Takes place during the "Magic Show" episode.**

 _"Criminy! I can't believe I just did that! Arnold probably thinks I'm a pathetic wimp! I hope he just forgets about this, and if he doesn't, I.. I'll just tell him I was having a bad day or something. That always works.."_

Helga dried her eyes as she walked up her stoop. She turned the door knob and not to her surprise, it was unlocked. "Miriam?!" Helga called out to her mother as she walked into the kitchen. Helga found her mother sitting on a chair near the kitchen table, passed out. She sensed Helga coming into the room and quickly woke up.

"Wha- um, morning, dear.." Miriam greeted her daughter, "how was school?"

"First of all, _mother_ , it's 1:30 in the afternoon. Second: it's Saturday!" Helga retorted, "you would know this if you weren't always so obsessed with your _smoothies_ and always taking naps every 5 minutes."

"Very nice, honey, very..." **_*SLAM!*_** Miriam was passed out on the dinner table...again. Suddenly, the front door opened again and closed. It was Bob Pataki. Helga walked over to her dad, who was taking off his shoes and walking towards the living room chair as he reached for the TV remote.

"Hey, _Dad_ , can I ask you a question?"

"Huh? Uh, not now, Olga. Watching the game."

"It's _Helga_ , Bob!"

"Yeah yeah whatever, Olga." He obviously wasn't paying any attention. Helga, getting annoyed, stood in front of the TV screen. "Out of the way you little brat!"

"No! I need you to listen to me!"

"You're making me miss my game!" Bob stood up from his chair with an angry look on his face, a face that did not faze Helga one bit.

"Criminy, do you guys even _care_ about me?! You're always watching TV, Miriam's always passed out, and you don't even know my real name!" Helga was practically screaming at her father, with hot, angry tears running down her face, "you know, if Olga were to disappear, everyone would be devastated and worried sick! But if _I_ were to disappear, then it would be whoop-dee-doo party time! Why can't you guys be the same parents for me like you were to Olga?! What's wrong with me?!"

Bob's face was emotionless for seconds, then came a face of fiery rage. He grabbed Helga by the hair, removing her pigtails and causing her to fall to the floor. Helga screamed in pain as he dragged her out of the living room, opened the front door, and threw her out. Her body landed with a thud, and she looked up at her father with fear on what he would do next.

"Don't bother coming back until you've done something to make yourself become useful in this family!" Bob slammed the front door, but a few seconds later, opened it up again. Helga stood up to look at her father, mentally praying that he was here to apologize and that they _would_ care if she disappeared, and that he just had a bad day at work then snapped. However, what he actually said was way worse than anything she ever heard him say in her life. "You wanna know what's wrong with you? I can tell ya what's wrong with you; we wanted a boy, but instead we got an ugly brat who won't go anywhere in life because she was nothing but an accident." He slammed the door again, leaving Helga speechless and her thoughts going haywire.

 _"Why are you so surprised? You **knew** they never loved you. You **knew** you were just an accident.. __But, I've never heard him actually say those things to me. I was hoping they would never be true. I don't think I've ever felt so worthless in my entire life.."_

Little did she know, that the little football-headed kid right behind her, had heard **_everything_**...

 **(Updated version made 10/21/17)**


	3. Determination

**The Magic Show - I do not own Hey Arnold. Hey Arnold belongs to Craig Bartlett and Nickelodeon...yay**

 **Takes place a little bit before "The Family Atrocity" chapter I just made.**

Arnold walked over to Gerald (who was talking to Phoebe), and tapped him on the shoulder.

"What's up, buddy?" Gerald asked, noticing Arnold's flabbergasted expression.

"Um, just letting ya know I'm heading off, I have to go take care of something. I'll see you later, Gerald." Arnold turned around and took one step forward before being tugged back around by the shoulder.

"Whoa whoa whoa. What could possibly be more important than free Yahoo Sodas?" Arnold looked around nervously, then looked at Phoebe, who was still next to Gerald.

"Phoebe," Arnold started, which got her attention, "can me and Gerald talk in private, please?"

"Oh, um, certainly, Arnold." Phoebe responded, while winking at Gerald goodbye, Gerald did the same.

"Okay, _now_ tell me. What's this thing you have to take care of?" Gerald questioned.

"First of all, you have to _swear_ you won't tell _anyone else_ what I'm about to tell you."

"Yeah yeah I'm very good at keeping secrets I swear," Gerald said quickly, "now spill."

"You're not gonna believe this, but after Helga finally appeared, she came up to me... apologizing about something.. I wasn't really paying attention. Then she just started to stutter and was acting really weird. But then I noticed she was starting to.."

"To...?"

"..."

 **"Spit it out, Arnold!"**

"She was starting to cry-"

 ** _"CRY?!"_**

"...and she ran away, probably to her house. I'm not sure if this'll work, but I'm gonna-"

"You're gonna _what_ , Arnold? Save the day? Make her _feel_ better?"

"Actually I was-"

"You know that this is Helga G. Pataki we're talking about, the girl who's bullied you for almost your _whole life?_ How do you think _you_ can make her feel better when she totally hates your guts?!"

"Well, if you'd be so kind as to let me _finish_ then I would tell you."

"My bad, carry on."

"I was just thinking that something could've happened while she was doing that magic trick with us. Maybe that's why she was so upset. Anyway, I'm gonna get to the bottom of this, whether she likes it or not."

"You're a **bold** kid, Arnold. Good luck." With that, Arnold started to follow the footsteps of Helga Pataki.

* * *

When Arnold reached near the house, he heard faint yelling from the inside of the house. He walked a few steps closer to make it out.

 _"Do you guys even_ _ **care**_ _about me?! You're always watching TV, Miriam's always passed out, and you don't even know my real name!"_

 _"Is that Helga? I always knew her family was sort of rough, but not this rough!"_ Arnold thought.

 _"Y_ _ou know, if Olga were to disappear, everyone would be devastated and worried sick! But if **I** were to disappear, then it would be whoop-dee-doo party time! Why can't you guys be the same parents for me like you were to Olga?! What's wrong with me?!"_

Arnold realized her mean side was only a mask she wore to prevent other people from hurting her long ago, but to now find out _this_ was the reason she wore that mask, made something not feel quite right in his heart.

All of a sudden, he heard high pitched screams coming closer and closer to the front door. Arnold quickly stepped off of the stoop, along with taking a few steps back. The door slammed open to reveal Helga being thrown onto the stoop like a rag doll.

 _"Don't bother coming back until you've done something to make yourself become useful in this family!"_ The door then, slammed shut.

Arnold was appalled at what he'd just witnessed, but that wasn't even the worst part. The door opened again..

 _"You wanna know what's wrong with you? I can tell ya what's wrong with you; we wanted a boy, but instead we got an ugly brat who won't go anywhere in life because she was nothing but an accident."_

The door slammed shut for good, leaving a speechless Helga. Arnold was enraged at what he had just heard, that was Helga's **_own father_** who just said that to her. What kind of father was he to tell her that she was an accident? Helga was crying again; he had never witnessed anything so awful in his life of advice-giving. He finally decided he would say something to her, hoping she wouldn't pound him.

"...Helga?"

* * *

Helga whipped her head around, seeing Arnold with a shocked expression on his face. _**"No!"**_ Her soul cried, _"he's here. Out of all people, **he** was the one who showed up."_

Helga stayed silent for a few seconds, until the last bits of her walls fell and there was nothing left but debris.

"Why did you follow me?"

"I saw you run out of the field, crying, and I wanted to see what was wrong," Arnold stated, "but, Helga, what just happened?" He sounded more concerned now.

"...I'm really sorry you had to witness this.. You're never going to look at me the same way ever again."

Arnold couldn't help but frown, he would have never thought Helga Pataki's life to be so awful at home. He had to do something. He _needed_ to do something.

"Don't be sorry, Helga. I, for one, am glad I witnessed this, because now you're no longer alone, and I can help you."

Helga was mortified at this situation, she couldn't believe this was happening. The last thing she ever wanted from Arnold was his pity.

"Come here." Arnold blurted out, in which Helga replied with a puzzled look, but slowly obeyed by stepping off the stoop and walking a little closer to him. He suddenly took her hand and they started walking.

"W-where are we going?!" Helga asked, shocked and confused.

"To the boarding house. I said I would help you, didn't I?" Arnold replied with a small smile.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because I always try to help out my friends whenever I can."

 **(Updated version made 10/22/17)**


	4. A Different Side

**The Magic Show - I do not own Hey Arnold. Hey Arnold belongs to Craig Bartlett and Nickelodeon...yay**

"Why are you doing this?" Helga asked with mixed feelings about this situation.

"Because I always try to help out my friends whenever I can," Arnold replied with a smile.

Helga didn't reply, she just kept following Arnold while he still held her hand guiding her to his boarding house. She looked at her feet while walking, not wanting to bring her head up and let her mess of hair cover most of her face. She wanted to cry very very badly, but she couldn't. Not in front of Arnold.. _Never_ in front of Arnold, but she knew it was already too late for that statement.

* * *

When they reached the boarding house known as Sunset Arms, she watched Arnold let go of her hand and rummage through his pocket to pull out a key. He guided her to the side of the stoop, and opened the door to reveal many different animals pour out of the front door. Once they were all gone, he held the door for Helga to come in the house first, then followed after her and shut the door.

Helga followed Arnold up a flight of stairs, which led to another flight of stairs, which led to his bedroom. Helga should've been ecstatic at this very moment, but the situation she was in was holding her back. She watched Arnold close the door and shortly after, pick up a remote control and press a button, which caused a small orange sofa to emerge from the wall. She then watched Arnold take a seat on that small sofa, and made a gesture for her to do the same. Helga hesitated a few seconds, contemplating if she should just quickly bolt out the door, but where else could she go? Sure, there was Phoebe, but wouldn't Helga just be a burden for her? Phoebe's parents would never approve of her arrival to live with them anyway, so what's even the point of-

"Helga," Arnold began, which snapped Helga out of her thoughts. She finally decided to sit down next to him.

Arnold noticed she was avoiding eye contact with him. He also could barely see her face under her hair. Without thinking, he slowly grabbed a strand of hair on her face and put it behind her ear. " _She's_ _kinda pretty with her hair down...wait what_." Both Arnold and Helga's faces were a light shade of pink, but Arnold quickly brushed it off by clearing his throat and restarting his statement. "Uh, Helga, if you don't mind me asking, what happened to you during the magic show? Why did you leave in the middle of my trick?" He said this with both a look of concern and slight frustration.

Helga sighed, "well why do ya _think_ Arnold, I wanted to make your lame magic trick backfire."

"Yeah. Thanks for that." Arnold replied sarcastically, still a little peeved that his magic show he put a lot of effort into almost was a complete bust. "But did something happen after you left? What caused you to almost start crying after you came back?"

Helga stared at the floor for a few seconds until responding with, "why do you care?"

"Because I know there's a different side of you, Helga. I want to know more about this side, about the _real you_."

"What are you blabbering about, Football-Head?! Sides?! This _is_ the real me! Helga G. Pataki, as simple as that!"

"You can't act like I didn't see anything I just saw! You crying and running home, your dad throwing you out of your house like you were nothing but trash! It's really not as simple as Helga G. Pataki, there's more to you than just 'the school bully'. I obviously know that deep down you're not a bully, in fact deep down, I know you're actually really nice, and have feelings! I want to help you Helga, let me in!"

Helga's face was pure red, and her heart was beating a mile a minute. Arnold actually seems like he cares about her! Oh Arnold, what a kind soul, so companionate and affectionate towards others, so...

"I don't have to tell you _anything_ about my personal life! Since when are you my therapist?" She knew this was a pathetic attempt at rebuilding her broken wall, but even though the damage was already done, she just couldn't help it.

"You're right," Arnold replied, "but I just feel I kinda deserve to know what happened to you, since you kinda almost _ruined_ the big finale of my magic show.."

Again with the stupid magic show! Helga was silent for a few moments, then she sighed. She finally decided she would spill the beans.

"Fine...I...I'll tell you. But you _can't_ tell anyone else what I'm about to tell you, and you _especially_ can't tell anyone what Bob did earlier. Not the police, not the school, not your friends, your family, not even your _pig_."

Arnold frowned, "but... are _you_ going to tell someone?"

"Yeah. When I'm good and ready."

Arnold's frown didn't leave his face as he quietly sighed, "whatever you say, Helga."

Helga leaned back on the small orange couch, "okay, time to begin this fiasco of a story.."

 **(Sorry this chapter was so short! Idk if anyone even still cares about this fanfic lol, since it's been longer than a year since I updated it! But I'm gettin' back into the groove :D)**

 **(Updated version made 11/11/17)**


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